ARLINGTON -- One of this city's major arterials, 67th Avenue NE is scheduled to be closed during two coming weekends so culverts can be installed in Portage and Prairie creeks.The city has been working for the past 10 years to make 67th Avenue safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, and now the work includes making it safer for fish, too.The road closures, between 204th Street NE and 211th Place NE, are scheduled from 7 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Tuesday and the weekend of Aug. 2 through 6. During the closures, construction crews will excavate the roadway, install the culverts and get ready for paving.The existing Portage and Prairie creek culverts under 67th are undersized. As a result, industrial areas experience flooding and fish have a difficult time passing through when the water is high. The new culverts are 80 feet long and 20 feet wide.Earlier this month, in preparation for the culvert work, Adopt-A-Stream Foundation members helped move about 5,000 juvenile coho salmon and cutthroat trout from one side of Portage Creek to the other."It was amazing," city spokeswoman Kristin Banfield said. "And it went beautifully."The urban creeks in Arlington are full of wildlife, said Bill Blake, the city's natural resources manager."These new culverts will significantly improve their habitat and build on the past 18 years of salmon habitat restoration here," Blake said.The weekend closures will be inconvenient for drivers, but detours are to be posted, Banfield said. "Our contractor, Marshbank Construction from Lake Stevens, is going gangbusters to get this done."For more information about the project and the detour routes, go to www.67thave.org or call 360-594-2425.Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.

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